


to take peace from the earth

by dome_epais



Category: Band of Brothers, Supernatural
Genre: Gen, Speirs is War, The Four Horsemen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-12
Updated: 2012-10-12
Packaged: 2017-11-16 04:22:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,268
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/535443
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dome_epais/pseuds/dome_epais
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Speirs opens his eyes, and War stares out of them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	to take peace from the earth

The men in Speirs' stick are jittery and nervous. Chewing gum, smoking. Some nudging their shoulders into their neighbors, saving up the camaraderie.

Speirs sits at the front of the plane, breathing deeply, absolutely still. He relaxes into the weight of his pack, the rhythmic rumbling of the C-47. He flexes his ankles against the tight laces of his boots.

They hear the first explosion of anti-aircraft fire. The men's heads jerk, the air inside the plane is tense and breathless. But still, Speirs doesn't move.

In a wash, the acrid stink of gunpowder and scorched ozone fills their space. It smells like a battle. Speirs opens his eyes, and War stares out of them.

The red warning light comes on. 

\--

That night, as Speirs orders his small collection of men to capture a machine gun on their way toward the rally point, one corporal begins his breakdown ahead of schedule.

"We can't go up there," he hisses, flinging his arm at the crest of a hill, where Krauts are still shooting at planes and paratroopers. "There's only five of us! We're dead for sure!"

Speirs crouches with him, the other three men hunkered down behind the adjacent bush. They watch like children whose fellow has been caught for a crime they all committed, unwilling to step in and share the punishment.

"I am your officer," Speirs whispers, "and I am giving you an order. Are you refusing this order?"

The corporal's eyes are huge and gleaming in the dark, his breathing heavy. He nods. He is about to die and he knows it, and for a few heartbeats Speirs recognizes a fellow soldier.

There is heat gathering at the back of Speirs' head, a spark that runs down to his trigger finger. The corporal falls back with the impact.

The Germans ignore the gunshot as part of the background sounds of war.

The heat flares in Speirs' eyes as he turns back to the men. "Anyone else?"

They grab their rifles and keep their mouths shut and take the gun. 

\--

Speirs hangs around the makeshift 506th camp, smoking what's left of his stolen pack and waiting for someone to mention the missing POWs to him.

He overhears the CO of Dog chatting with his 1st Sergeant: "Can you believe they sent Easy over to take out some dug-in 88s? Christ. They've only got about a dozen men together!" and "Wait, did Meehan show?" and "No, missing their CO, too. Winters stepped in."

"Where's their target?" Speirs interrupts from directly over their shoulders. The sergeant drops his pack of smokes in surprise.

The CO makes an effort never to be disconcerted by Speirs. "What? It's over by Brecourt, I mean, it's a whole Kraut nest. You can probably just follow the sound of the 88s, you know?"

Speirs has never been to war before, but it's been 24 hours and he already has an instinct for these things. It's a pull in his bones, a voice in his head and his hands directing him to chase down openings and opportunities. If there's going to be action, even a small engagement, Speirs can smell it coming a mile away.

Speirs walks away, still holding a cigarette between his lips. He spots a private from his platoon and calls him over. "Get some of 2nd Platoon together," he instructs, "and start collecting ammo."

"What? Where're we goin', sir?" the kid asks.

Speirs stares into his eyes and there is a horrible depth waiting in his own.

The kid snaps out a salute and looks away. "R-right, on it."

When Easy needs for ammo, Speirs volunteers his men - already draped in long belts of ammunition.

\-- -- --

By the time the siege breaks at Bastogne, Speirs understands what is happening to him.

There is a voice in his head, whispering; how to run, where to position himself. There is something else using his arms and mowing down Germans. There is a gleeful rise in his heartbeat while bullets pass overhead, and a blank absence where his conscience should be.

It's not so bad, this thing that fills him up. It plugs all the holes Speirs left when he careful excised the soft parts of himself. He made space for this, and it's obligingly taken up his invitation.

The voice gets bored during the lulls in between actions and tells him what is happening elsewhere, the movements of the entire ETO. He's probably better informed than Hitler.

\--

During the attack on Foy, it tugs at him, and he follows obediently. Stand closer to Winters. Step out of line with his peers; be the first thing he sees.

And then it throws him headlong through the German lines and he smiles for the first time since England.

\--

Lipton becomes his 1st Sergeant, and he is a hell of a soldier. Speirs sees the difference between them immediately.

Lipton is good at war. He understands it. But he isn't in Europe because he's a good combat leader or a good shot; he's here for the men, to get as many of them out of here alive at the end of it.

Speirs recognizes Lipton's value, and puts in for his commission. But the fact of the matter is, Lipton is going to walk away from this war and never look back.

 _That's not why you're here_ , the voice whispers.  _When this is over, you're going to miss me._

\--

Speirs is smoking outside Lipton's bedroom, waiting for the medic. He can hear the voices from inside; Luz is getting some water in the sergeant.

"Geez, can't believe he let you have the bed," Luz says. "Whatever happened to finders keepers?"

Lipton rasps, "He insisted. I was going to take the floor."

"Right, of course." The rolling of Luz's eyes is clear in his tone. "That's a cheap trick, using reverse psychology like that. You still have to share with Bloody Speirs."

A thick curl of pleasure winds through Speirs at the nickname. He thought only the officers called him that. At least everyone over here sees him for what he is.

"He's not so bad." Lipton coughs for a while. "He's a good CO."

"Lip, I don't care if he personally marches us through the gates of Berlin and into Hitler's bedroom. No one's supposed to  _enjoy_  war the way that man does."

Roe shows up then and Speirs has finished his smoke. He moves off to find Winters; there's got to be  _something_  they can do to cross this river.

\--

Lipton's fever breaks before morning. Speirs nods goodbye to his brother in passing, not quite seeing him through his still-human eyes.

\------

Speirs stands outside the Landsberg camp, shoulder to shoulder with the other two of his brothers, viewing their destruction. He knew nothing of this; treating humans this way has nothing to do with War.

Lipton starts calling for food, starts organizing a way to give it to the prisoners. Speirs sees Famine's sharp smirk and knows that overfeeding is no healthier for starved bellies. But he doesn't interfere; it's not his place.

Death says nothing, but shakes Speirs' hand before he goes.

\------

The men begin comparing points, seeing if they can get out of the Army before they're shipped to the Pacific. Speirs watches this with a dispassionate eye; cataloging who will stay, how many replacements he'll have to train before they go.

"You have the points, you know," Lipton says at his elbow. "You could go home."

Speirs meets his eyes, and his own flash black.

Lipton blinks, then ducks his head and shrugs. "That's what I thought," he agrees with a small smile.

**Author's Note:**

> Title from the description of the horsemen in Revelation 6:1-8 - "And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword."


End file.
